I had added Maiklem’s book to my “Books to Read” list when I read a review of it in the Wall Street Journal back in 2019. I was reminded of it when I read about the London Museum exhibit.
I read Helen Castor’s The Eagle and Hart and loved it. I have bought her She-Wolves to read over the summer.
She had a great discussion with Henry Oliver in May
Cotton hoeing reminds me that I had a lone black classmate in graduate economics at Harvard, 1952-55, the first who headed a venerable tradition that changed the professional and academic worlds. President Johnson appointed him to the Federal Reserve Board (1966-1974).
Somehow, Andy miraculously got an education, found his way into Doug North's class at University of Washington and Doug got him into Harvard. Not everyone at Harvard was comfortable with Andy there, but we became friends. I was raised by a socialist, anti-racial discrimination, anti-war activist mother so I was proud of Andy.
I met him once, at the same time I first met Milton Friedman. He is an unsung hero who defended early credit cards (not store cards but those that became MasterCard and Visa) from regulatory proposals that would have strangled them shortly after birth.
From The Future and Its Enemies:
Testifying before Patman’s committee in 1968, Federal Reserve Board governor Andrew Brimmer patiently defended the messy process of experimentation. The knee-jerk reaction against credit cards, he warned, threatened all innovation in financial services. Imagination, he implied, should be encouraged, not outlawed:
“We need to be careful not to discourage banks from experimenting in developing improved ways to serve the public, including consumers. Certainly banks have been criticized in the past, often with justification, for their failure to recognize developing needs for credit and for lack of imagination in devising ways to meet these needs. In determining whether statutory restrictions upon bank credit cards are needed, care should be taken not to deny the public the advantages of continued innovation in the provision of banking services.”
Mass card mailings managed to dodge regulation until late 1970, long enough for banks to blanket most metropolitan areas with credit cards, and for the cards to become an established part of American retailing.
I enjoy your “rambling.”
I had added Maiklem’s book to my “Books to Read” list when I read a review of it in the Wall Street Journal back in 2019. I was reminded of it when I read about the London Museum exhibit.
I read Helen Castor’s The Eagle and Hart and loved it. I have bought her She-Wolves to read over the summer.
She had a great discussion with Henry Oliver in May
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-common-reader/id1638677512?i=1000708899181
I am looking forward to an upcoming conversation she is having with Tyler Cowen.
Cotton hoeing reminds me that I had a lone black classmate in graduate economics at Harvard, 1952-55, the first who headed a venerable tradition that changed the professional and academic worlds. President Johnson appointed him to the Federal Reserve Board (1966-1974).
Somehow, Andy miraculously got an education, found his way into Doug North's class at University of Washington and Doug got him into Harvard. Not everyone at Harvard was comfortable with Andy there, but we became friends. I was raised by a socialist, anti-racial discrimination, anti-war activist mother so I was proud of Andy.
https://www.federalreservehistory.org/people/andrew-f-brimmer
He had a lovely wife, Doris, and a daughter DR Esther Brimmer who has had a distiguished career in public policy and US Foreign Relations.
https://www.cfr.org/expert/esther-brimmer
I met him once, at the same time I first met Milton Friedman. He is an unsung hero who defended early credit cards (not store cards but those that became MasterCard and Visa) from regulatory proposals that would have strangled them shortly after birth.
From The Future and Its Enemies:
Testifying before Patman’s committee in 1968, Federal Reserve Board governor Andrew Brimmer patiently defended the messy process of experimentation. The knee-jerk reaction against credit cards, he warned, threatened all innovation in financial services. Imagination, he implied, should be encouraged, not outlawed:
“We need to be careful not to discourage banks from experimenting in developing improved ways to serve the public, including consumers. Certainly banks have been criticized in the past, often with justification, for their failure to recognize developing needs for credit and for lack of imagination in devising ways to meet these needs. In determining whether statutory restrictions upon bank credit cards are needed, care should be taken not to deny the public the advantages of continued innovation in the provision of banking services.”
Mass card mailings managed to dodge regulation until late 1970, long enough for banks to blanket most metropolitan areas with credit cards, and for the cards to become an established part of American retailing.